"Have you studied it very carefully?"
"Please leave out the word 'very.' I studied it as a young girl studies, not scientifically. I had a good master, and he did his best for me. Poor Herr Brachmann! he was sorry to have me come away. Perhaps in time I can make progress that will satisfy him better. I could see that he was often dissatisfied."
"You don't mean to suggest that you are going back to Santa Barbara?"
"Why not?"
"True enough, 'why not?' It was a foolish question. You doubtless have strong attachments there."
"I have, indeed."
"And it's natural to go where our attachments are strongest."
"Yes; you have proved that to-day."
"You evidently share in my brother's disapproval. Mary would soon become quite reconciled."
"I? I have no right to feel either approval or disapproval, while you have an undoubted right to please yourself."